The present invention generally relates to a towel-mat having a frame member and removably attached membranes.
Conventional beach towels and picnic blankets are typically used, for example, to separate a person from the ground (e.g., beach sand) and/or to line a chair. Difficulty exists, however, in maintaining the shape of these items when being used for such purposes. For example, when a beach towel is used to separate a person from the beach sand, the towel will typically lose its spread out shape and converge towards the person.
Several attempts have been tried to remedy these problems with towels. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,862,876, issued to Graves, discloses one attempt to maintain the desired shape of a towel. The towel in Graves has continuous flexible weights secured along two opposed edges of the towel. U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,430, issued to Nicoll, discloses a beach blanket having a nonmetallic tube filled with a liquid weight such as water located at the perimeter of the blanket.
These known towels, however, can be difficult to arrange when configured to have a large size. These towels can be cumbersome to arrange for separating a person from the beach sand, to line a chair, and to pack for removal.
A towel-mat includes a frame member being formed from a flexible twistable material, a first membrane and a second membrane. The first membrane has a perimeter portion to which a frame member is fixedly attached. The second membrane has a perimeter portion. The second membrane is removably attachable to the first membrane.
In one embodiment, the second membrane is removably attachable to the first membrane along the perimeter portion of the second membrane and along the perimeter portion of the first membrane.
In another embodiment, the perimeter portion of the second membrane includes an extended portion. The extended portion and the perimeter portion of the second membrane forms a perimeter pocket adapted to receive the first membrane.
In yet another embodiment, the towel-mat further comprises a fastener having a first portion and a second portion. The first portion of the fastener is attached to the first membrane, and the second portion of the fastener is attached to the second membrane. The fastener is adapted to removably attach the first membrane to the second membrane.